Pets at Home are shit. It’s official.

[PetsatHomeareShit]

Pets At Home Kingston Park (and probably everywhere) clearly bully their staff into reaching data harvesting targets.
For sweet FA in return, ime. St least Tesco and M&S give incentives.

The last time I was in there the cashier asked me for my date of birth. I mean, they’re not happy with the data that they already have - by getting you to sign up for the fucking app, which in itself was done under pressure. They want a bit more information every time you go in. Next time it would have been blood group, I’m sure.

I’ve successfully avoided them for about a year, but was collecting something from Curry’s next door so thought I’d quickly pick up a little item that I needed. Boy did I regret it.

Closing time, everybody wants go home, including me.

I’m standing with the item in my left hand and my card, visible, resting on the desk, in my right hand.
We’ve communicated with a quick smile & eye contact.

Cashier says, in a tone of voice that makes it sound compulsory:

Can I have your loyalty card please?

Me: No thanks. I don’t bother.

(I’m studiously looking down at the card machine.)

Cashier: Is there any particular reason why?

Me: Not really, I just don’t like it. (Still looking down. Clearly I want to pay and go.)

Cashier: Oh really, why not? (He still hasn’t put the transaction through. I’m held to random.)

I’m starting to get pissed off now. Here we go Again, I think.

Me: I’m fine, honestly. I just don’t think it’s worth it.
(Still not making eye contact with him, still waiting for him to put my transaction through on the card machine, still waiting to pay and Be Released.)

Him (Mansplaining tone of voice fucking dripping with condescension): Did you realise that every time you use the app, charities receive a donation?

Me: I like to be aware of which charities I’m giving to, thanks

Looking at you, M&S and your history with Mermaids

Him: (offended, closing his eyes and tilting his head back, I’ll-have-you-know tone of voice) ALL of our charities are legitimate animal charities, etc etc

Me: I’m starting to feel really bullied now. You need to inform the people who are putting you under pressure to do this, that you are in turn making customers feel under pressure.

Him (regrettable tone of voice, shaking head) It’s not bullying.

What I wanted to say, and will say now, if you’ll allow me, is FUCK OFF. Leave me alone. I ran in here quickly to buy one item and you’ve harassed me to the point you’re making my heart race.

What I did do, after I’d paid and taken one step away from the desk, was get him to return the item and reimburse me. It was the only think I could think of to protest. I didn’t desperately need it. I can get it online.

Pets at Home: Shove your pet food. There are many, many ways to buy pet food these days, including having it delivered to one’s door.

You REALLY, seriously, need to re-think this policy of harassment.

It made op feel better

@sandyhappypeople yes I’m quite aware that data harvesting represents a lot of revenue. IME, the more aspirational the shop, the less aggressive they are in pursuing it.

I’m not in the habit of taking things personally. If you were to read the other posts I’ve made here you’d see that my feelings about PaH are cumulative. Certainly before I approached the till I was thinking “Oh God, I hope we don’t have to go through the sales pressure again ..”
Pets at Home have a poor policy wrt how they treat their customers.

.. and their pets as we’ve seen above.

I completely agree with you. Pets at home have very dubious welfare standards with the pets they sell also. (See most small animal groups on Facebook)

I am really anti constantly being asked for small donations at the till/self checkout. It’s all about big companies reducing their taxes and improving their public image. DH once worked somewhere they pressured staff into riding exercise bikes during shifts to convince customers to part with their money for charity. The company then acts as if they have made the donation when really it’s the good will of staff and customer and zero to do with the corp.

I much prefer companies like Co-op that let you pick a small local charity/project and they share in a funding pot given out from the profits of the actual business.

I think it is fair to also point out that the week before Xmas is absolute hell for retail staff. I was in the corner shop earlier and the scag head and the staff were swearing at each other. Abuse is frequent and everyone is stressed.

I often do "press the green button" on the card reader to make a small donation to charity, but I recently declined this in The Entertainer as the request gave no indication of what the charity was. The cashier looked disapproving. I'm getting sick of all this.

At least some cashiers press the red button on my behalf before handing the card reader over! They must be sick of it, too.

The week before Christmas is not always hell for retail staff, especially the ones who get commission. Men shopping on Christmas Eve were my favourite customers - they would often buy whatever you suggested and sod the cost!

I used to work in a vets4pets inside a pets at home, all the staff on 16 hour contracts so they can just reduce hours whenever they feel like it, they don't treat staff well. I get my pet supplies at zooplus instead, cheaper, arrives quickly and they have a better loyalty program

Well you encountered a real wanker there. That was ‘above and beyond’ anything he’ll have been instructed to do. Reads as him enjoying the opportunity to humiliate you.

But being briefer and more definite would help you. ‘No thanks, I’d just like to pay and leave’.

They've just announced a new CEO so maybe someone should send him this thread!

Just say "sorry I'm in a hurry - must fly"- it works!

Pets at Home are appalling at looking after the reptiles that they insist on selling in their shops. They often don't even have any staff on site who are specialists, which should surely be a requirement when dealing with exotics. I was in there once and saw a royal python with some stuck shed on its eye caps, but when I flagged this up to the staff, I was told that the person who "knows about snakes" wasn't in for another three days so it would have to wait until then. That poor snake could have lost its sight by then, god knows how long it had already been like that, and it wouldn't have been like that at all if it had been kept in appropriate conditions. I haven't been back in since then - I have a local pet shop which sells reptile stuff now and they don't sell actual animals so it's much less stressful being in there overall.

@EstoyRobandoSuCasa yes that's just it. I do give to charities by DD every month but I've given it some consideration. I also try to spread them across animal, homelessness, etc. There are some dubious organisations, one of which I've mentioned above, who've managed to achieve charitable status. I'd be appalled if I thought I was giving even 35p to them.

@lottiegarbanzo and @abracadabra1980 I will try both ideas, thanks. Most of the time they do listen when you say No Thanks but Pets at Home are ridiculous.

"tantrum" is bullshit hyperbole.

He was wasting OPs time too.

I just say no thank you. If they ask a 2nd time: i said no thank you.
if they ask a 3rd time i say - no, i don't need this stuff and leave.

Our local Pets at Home is great. Never had anything but good service, and no hassling.

@ArwenUndomniel That is absolutely disgusting. I can't look at their animals. Have you read @JH0404 's story about the guinea pig who was supposedly "on it's way out" and left in a box to die, with no food or water?

The little rabbits and small animals all shoved together in hot stuffy glass cages make me feel depressed.

@1984Winston yes it doesn't surprise me that they treat their staff badly. I was saying above, that the last time I was in there the young woman behind the counter said if I didn't give her my date of birth she was going to be taken out the back and shot. Well, not really, but she seemed to be dreading it as much.

The Zooplus tip is a good one, Thanks.

It's annoying, but that's what marketing is these days. He's not detaining you, he's been asked by management to ask you these questions and odds are he doesn't want to be stood there talking to you anymore than you want to be there stood talking to him.

Frankly, I stopped reading when I saw 'mansplaining'. The entire exchange would have left you feeling no different it it were a woman, so I think the sexist crap was unwarranted.

I stopped going to pets at home because of this loyalty card thing. I had an account 15 or so years ago but lost my card and moved and got married and changed my name and I stopped bothering with it. Every time I go they still insist on trying to find my account and ask for my old addresses and account numbers. It's such a hassle for a £1 cat treat. I have told them I'm not interested but they still do the speech about the charities and discounts and can't seem to understand that I don't want to reactivate the card or download the app or ring customer services to find out where my account is. They're all nice enough but I just can't be arsed anymore.

We’re all knackered, and being harassed and guilt tripped at a till when you just want to pay is out of order. Retail workers are not a protected species, and they should have training around not bothering customers who clearly do not want to engage with them beyond paying for their items.

Pets At Home are in a bit of trouble at the minute https://www.vettimes.com/news/business/practice-developments/pets-at-home-announces-ceo-departure
Not surprised they are trying everything to stay afloat, it is shit customer service though!

I mean...I'm surprised it's the data harvesting that has you annoyed and not their longstanding history of animal abuse.

I’d just tell them that I don’t trust pets at home with my data. Retail outlets aren’t exactly unknown for data leaks. 🙄

Nothing would shock me about PaH.

I keep guinea pigs. A couple of years ago I was down to 1 solo pig who needed a friend. PaH do rehoming and I was keen to get an older animal. PaH had a suitable one for rehoming.

Guinea pigs need careful introductions and are not guaranteed to get on. The assistant knew a lot about keeping them, but the bottom line was there was no backup care at all for if that pairing went wrong. All they were interested in was getting thr animal out of the door, and she was quite pushy with me. In the end I decided it was too risky.

Shocking.

In my experience, guinea-pigs are much easier to introduce than most other rodents, but yeah, it doesn't always work out. PAH should definitely take an animal back if the pairing goes wrong.

I think most PAH staff do care about the animals, but I have seen a couple of things which weren't great.

The first was many years ago. I got a glimpse of the stockroom as the door was briefly open and saw a young man holding what appeared to be a goldfish in a plastic bag and bashing it against a wall or stepladder, whilst laughing with a colleague. I assume it had to be euthanised and I don't know how this ought to be done with goldfish, but the way it was done looked callous.

More recently, I saw a hamster in a wheel which was much too small for him, so he had to arch his back in order to run. This is bad for rodents and can lead to muscular/skeletal problems. I told a staff member and they said they would find him a bigger wheel. To be fair though, I think this a common mistake for rodent keepers. Many of the wheels sold for rodents are much smaller than what I would choose. As are the cages.

I agree Pets at Home are crap, but I just wanted to say be careful when buying pet products on Amazon, as a lot of times, including dog food and medicines, have been found to be fakes!